


Homecoming

by ArtsyFartsyBro



Category: Clockworkskies
Genre: Do not read if you want hector to stay mysterious, F/M, Fighting, M/M, Major Spoilers, Mentions of Death, Mentions of alcohol, Multi, Pirates, Polyamory, Spoilers, Steampunk AU, Steampunk Pirates, for the end of hectors adventures, one of the many possible ends for hector
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2019-10-30 07:26:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17824475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtsyFartsyBro/pseuds/ArtsyFartsyBro
Summary: At port one evening, Hectors past dramatically unfolds.





	1. Reunited

**Author's Note:**

> If you are from the tag and cant keep the information your character has and the information you have separate, do not read this. 
> 
> Otherwise, enjoy this possible end to Hectors adventures with the clockworkskies crew.

     They were losing terribly. The rag tag crew of pirates whom had taken their second evening in port to enjoy themselves at the pub had managed to upset some locals and what resulted was a fight in which they were all getting their asses handed to them. Too proud to flee, the spryest of their crew was sent to retrieve the big guns. That is to say, they were sent to retrieve Hector. Hector wasn’t one to go into port so he was rarely there when a fight broke out but he would readily settle a kerfuffle in order to avoid the crew whining and pouting. So Hector followed with a mildly irritated expression to the pub and got to work. The moment he stepped in the door, a cocky “Oh you're screwed now” was heard followed by a string of curses from the same voice. And indeed they were. Though he wasn’t very big and he didn’t look like it, the mechanic easily handed the locals their asses on a shiny silver platter. He wasn’t a pirate but he could fight like one. When he was finished, he gave a once over of the damage as the crew cheered and he wiped his nose and hands. He nodded to the poor barkeep and verbally apologized to them as well as the innocent patrons for the terror that was wrought before he made his way to the door, stepping over bodies, unconscious and groaning alike. However, before he quite reached it, a voice from across the room called out his name.

     “Hector!” they called and Hector turned stiff as he heard it. The crew quieted themselves as they looked to the woman as she moved from one end of the room to the center, a tall man following in her wake. The crew, confused at how anyone knew the secretive and solitary man, exchanged looks amongst themselves and then toward Hector. The woman calls him again as she hurriedly steps over bodies, being steadied by the hand of the man following her, making her way to Hector. Hector, shoulders stiff and jaw tight, turns in his place near the door. If he had just been a little faster, he would have been gone already. The woman just shorter than Hector, upon making it to his side, fills her chest with a deep breath before slapping him harshly before forcing him into a hug. She pulls back but keeps a firm hold on his shirt.

     “How could you disappear like that? We were worried you were dead! Where have you been? Why are you here? Oh I am so angry with you! If I weren’t so relieved, I would kill you!” She declares quickly, giving him a little shake as he stares at her with brows raised in surprise. Hector looks up the the man that had followed the woman before returning his gaze to her, looking between them slowly as the crew looked on with shock. “What do you have to say for yourself, hm?” the woman demands. “You tell us you’re going to seek work and suddenly all the letters stop! What were you thinking!” A smile slowly finds its way onto Hectors scarred lips, turning up the corners just so as a softness washes over him.

     “Ma colombe,” he breaths in a whisper and even the woman’s expression softens. She caresses Hectors cheek gently and Hector places his own over it, holding it close. For a brief moment, there is peace. And then she pinches his cheek roughly and he lets out a little yelp.

     “Do you think you can ‘ma colombe’ me and I’ll just forgive you!? If you have forgotten, Amare is the soft one, not I! You are in so much trouble!”A member of the crew who had noticed the looks they all were receiving approached the group and, with a cautious had to avoid the woman’s wrath, the got her attention.

     “Excuse me, ma’am, but perhaps you should continue this on the ship where you can uh.. Totally rip Hector apart..” They attempted to joke. She gives them a pointed look before conceding, releasing Hectors cheek from her grasp. Hector immediately rubs the spot with an embarrassed scowl as the grew begins to make their way out the door. One by one, they all make their return to the ship and were given a private room and those whom had stayed on board during the fight were clued in on the excitement as they all gathered around the door.

     The conversation was hard to hear, especially when Hector spoke, but the general idea the crew could understand was that Hector had been with the two in the room in at the least a domestic sense for years before he left for work and disappeared. Eventually, from their own experiences with him, he joined the ship and hasn’t had contact with the two in a very long time. The crew jumps and acts as natural as possible when the door opens again, the three of the stepping out with Hector at the tain looking somewhat nervous and the woman still cross. The man they hadn’t heard speak looked hurt. “We’re going to go and talk about this privately. Hector said you aren’t leaving for a few days so we will return when we’ve made a decision.” She declares firmly. “Do not leave port.” She instructs and as this woman has been the only to bring a sheepish expression to Hector, a respectful fear of her ensures that, even if they had planned to leave early, they now wouldn’t in fear of what she may do. Hector saw them down the ramp off the ship before returning quietly, the crew watching from the deck. He gave them a single glance before attempting to disappear into the ship as he usually would. Some of the crew, however, were bold enough and curious enough to not allow him the seclusion he so desired. One in particular felt owed an explanation after Hector had spent so long by their side. However, Hector said nothing and kept his head hug save for when one made move to push him: in that moment, quick like a whip, he had their wrists in a firm hold of warning, expression advising they watch themselves for he was still the same Hector who just took out an entire pub of people. Angry and hurt, the crew member harshly withdrew their hands and stormed off. And now that they were mad at him, the entire ship was upset even more so. So he spent his time waiting in solitude.


	2. Welcomed

    Days passed with no word from the mysterious man and woman who claimed to have known Hector before he joined the ship. As with all groups as sizeable as their crew, not everyone liked Hector and he certainly didn’t make it easy to even try considering his apparent lack of desire to interact with anyone beyond a couple humans and automatons. However, for the few members of the crew who cared to learn the secrets of Hector grew antsy as the time passed, filling them with uncertainty. Information about the reserved mechanic was closer than ever yet still just beyond their reach, teasing them with hopes for explanation and reasoning.

     Hector would still offer no explanation. Not that any of the crew dared ask. Hector had always presented himself to the crew in a way that many read as his distaste for them and even those with the most fiery desire to learn had long since had that fire snuffed. So Hector sat in the cargo hold mostly undisturbed as he too waited the arrival of information. His fate hung in the air, it seemed, out of his control. He silently feared that any choice made by the couple who had known him would end with him alone on the streets. He had made the crew upset with him as a whole it seemed and even those two strangers were upset. His chest felt heavy and he felt alone.

     Finally, they arrived. A crew member was sent to fetch Hector and it was clear to him as he climbed the stairs up to the deck in the whispers and looks he caught out of passing glances that even those who disliked Hector had been talking about him. He felt infinitely small in the trek to the ramp. It was nearing sunset and at the bottom of the ramp, the woman and man stood, discussing something too quiet for Hector to make out. They glanced his way up the ramp and Hector felt a tingle of nervousness spread through him. His jaw set itself tight as he prepared himself for the worst. It was, afterall, what he probably deserved. Everything felt deafeningly silent as Hector watched them finish their conversation and start their walk up to the deck. Each step closer of the well dressed shoes set a nail in each of Hector’s, securing him to where he stood despite his nerves telling him to run. His hands were fists at his sides and his breath was still as they came aboard arm in arm, the woman giving Hector a firm stare.

     “We have not decided what punishment will be appropriate,” the woman states.

     “But there will be a punishment.” the man confirms.

     “Yes. But after some very in depth consideration,” she begins again, “and some arguing, we have decided we want you to come home.”

     Hector lets out a shaky breath, brows furrowed. That was not at all the response he had been anticipating. He opens his mouth to express why that would be a terrible idea, to share the atrocities he'd done, to explain how he had changed since he had left and the woman cuts him off with a finger held up to silence him.

     “We don’t care what you may have done since we’ve last seen you. We just want you home.”

     He feels his chest fill with all sorts of emotions and he steadies himself with a hand on the rough railing of the ship, head swimming as thoughts flood him rapidly. He casts a glance back toward the few members of the crew top side and looks away as he sees them staring, his eyes focusing on his shoes. His jaw clenches and he stiffens as he feels a hand on his arm and he looks to it then the owner of the hand. Isadora. She no longer looks cross with him. Instead, she has a softness to her that Hector displayed for her at the pub. His stiff shoulders relax just so and then Amare sets his large hand on Hector’s other arm and the two embrace him and he returns it.


	3. Departed

     It’s hard for Hector to leave. Especially when his closest friends give him steeled sad looks as he stands at the edge of the ramp with his few belongings in his hand and over his arm. Last night would have been his last moments on the ship if it hadn’t been for Amare insisting he have time to say his goodbyes. Despite he protests, insisting he could gather his things in the quickest amount of time, Amare had not budged on his stance.

     “The closure isn’t just for you, Hector,” Amare had expressed as he smoothed down Hector’s wrinkled and misbuttoned shirt. And so Hector had spent one last night aboard the ship that had been his home for such a long time. He had seen many members come and go, seen numerous captains, none of them his own, and despite himself, he’d made a couple friends.

     Years had passed since he had first stepped on deck. He’d done things he had never thought himself possible even if only out of self defense. He was once a young man searching for work and now he was an old man, with greys flecking his hair and scars from battles fought returning home. He passed a small sheet of parchment to the woman he saw as his captain despite her frustrated appearance, giving her a small look as he asked in a gruff voice “Write me.” and he saw in the way she took in a sharp breath the tears that threatened to show.

     He left the ship with the few crew members who had the unfortunate experience of his late night ramblings on deck to see him off and at the end of the ramp, he met with the couple who took him in between them and lead him off.


	4. Happy

It had been years since Hector had left the crew and despite how busy the crew had been, Hector had sent letters every month, sometimes twice, to ports along the route he had traveled so many times before. The handwriting that once adorned the ship’s supplies list was now telling simple stories that said a lot but, in Hector fashion, meant very little. He’d write snippets of letters to various members of the crew, reminding some of the proper way to fix something and others to remember to visit the ships engineer for tune ups. There were packages as well sometimes, filled with shiny spare parts and books by famed mystery and romance author, Isadora Del Olmo including her newest book about a handsome pirate who was himself a mystery much to Hector’s own dismay. Even if Hector did not get word back from the crew, he would send letters and slowly the firmness of each stroke of the pen that once would dig deep grooves in the parchment grew increasingly shallow.

It took some serious communication but eventually, Hector extended an invitation to his captain, inviting her to dinner the next time the ship docked along with an address and instructions to come by whenever. And for the first time since he’d left, he would get to see her.

She had made her way to the small home with the little flower garden out front that sat on a patch of land that did not suit a mechanic that could clear a pub single handedly. A knock on the door and it was too late to return to the ship. The front door swung open and in the doorway stood a fresh man with a clean face and nicely pressed clothes though clearly old. There were more greys now but the relaxed face that greeted her was not one she had known. This alien looking man smiled as he seemed to recognize her and step aside, welcoming her into the home and when he said “come in”, it wasn’t the gruff voice that come from lack of use she had grown used to but was a sweet sound of a friendly man.

“You look so different” she says. Or is what she means to say because it definitely comes out with shock and discomfort. It is greeted, however, with a happy chuckle. 

“Make yourself comfortable. I will tell Isadora and Amare you are here.” The man says with a gentle smile as he closes the front door behind them. He disappears into the small home before Isadora emerges and the sound of a door opening and closing is heard. 

“He’s just going out back to bring Amare in for supper,” she assures as she leads her guest to the small dining room table, passing her a drink. She then asks of the crews adventures which she receives tale of before the spectacled man returns with Amare and Isadora smiles coyly.

“Hector has been telling us so much about how excited he was for you to come to dinner,” She informs their guest and Hectors smile takes on a nervous curve. “He’s told us of how he acted and honestly, its so cute to know he was so bad at interacting. He’s always been a shy one.”

“Ma colombe,” he starts, almost pleading with an embarrassed tone and the woman waves him off.

“You should have seen him when we were young, but those are stories for another time. All morning he’s been fiddling with everything and checking to make sure we had everything for dinner.” Isadora coos and Hector looked as if he wished to disappear inside his shirt or elsewhere, his arms folding over his chest and for a second, he looked like the Hector their guest once knew. “He’s very fond of you,” Isadora finishes and Hector’s bristling in an attempt to disguise his feelings. 

“I will set the table,” he declares as he busies himself. Isadora chuckles and leans across the wood separating her from her guest, a conspiratory curve to her brow.

“Really surprised it took him so long to invite you home. He’s missed you and your friends quite a lot.”

“Isadora,” Amare now chides lightly as he sets a large and gentle hand on her shoulder, “we shouldn’t tease him in front of guests so early. You’ll run out of ammunition.” They exchange playful chuckles at the way Hector audibly huffs from the stove.

“You should go soothe him then, Amare. Tend the wounds of his tender heart.” Isadora hums before they exchange sweet kisses to each other’s cheeks and Amare crosses the distance in two strides to quietly speak to Hector, an affectionate hand rubbing his back. With Hector’s attention pulled from them, Isadora decides to give her partner some mercy and instead inquires if the guest had read the books she had sent and what they thought.

Dinner was bizzare for the guest as seeing Hector as anything but firm and uninterested was forigne. Here he sat close to her at the cozy table, entirely relaxed and smiling even as he assured she had enough food on her plate. He spoke softly as he fondly explained that Amare in fact was a skilled chef and did most of the cooking but he wanted to help tonight, musht to Amare’s dismay. Hector let out an embarrassed chuckle when conversation turned to the books Isadora had loosely based on his experiences with the crew and he mouthed an apology that anyone would have to read any literature involving him in a romantic light. He watched her with genuine interest as she recounted to him what had happened since her last letter, her mouth running on its own as her mind tried to processes the man Hector had become. Or what he had once been like. 

The Hector the crew had known was not one to show physical affection yet here he was, pressing soft kisses to the knuckles of Amare and Isadora when he could. The Hector the crew was familiar with spoke so little and so crypticly yet here the same man was telling stories in their entirety, leaving little to be wondered. He had once been a mystery and here he was an open book. 

The night was drawing to a close and when their guest made move to leave, Hector stood up straight. “Wait here one moment,” he requested before disappearing further into the small home and Amare shook his head.

“He’s been very excited for your visit, miss.” and Hector returned before the guest could inquire as to what the tall man had meant. 

“Here,” Hector pressed a large loaf of bread wrapped in paper and twine into her arms with a small smile and followed it with a small sack. “The bread is for you, I searched through town for it special. And those are parts for the tons and ship,” he gestures to the sack. “Brand new--top condition.” He lets out a breath through his nose after, hands on his hips as he seemed to be relieved to have the exchange over with-- as if the exchange had held a great deal of importance to him and now that it was accomplished, he could breathe easy. “Love you, kid. Be safe out there.” He embraced her firmly in what was intended as a parting hug, arms strong and solid around her and when he pulled away, his contented expression was replaced with concern as her eyes began to water. He gently cupped her face and when a tear fell, wiped it away. She then clung to him and cried and he let her. 

Hector had never hugged her before. Hector had never expressed he cared before. And now he was doing both and she’d never felt so loved. She had never thought Hector would express such things when getting him to allow her to embrace him previously was itself a fight and now he was not only giving it to her willingly but without her needing to ask. For the first time in all the years she’d known him, she was seeing the real Hector.

 

And he was happy.


End file.
